MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Toledo women's tennis team won one of its biggest matches of the season, a 4-3 victory over defending CAA Champion William & Mary on Saturday that took more than 4 1/2 hours to complete.
The match was tied at 3-3 when junior
Audrey Moutama clinched match point after battling through back-to-back tiebreakers. She won the first set 7-6(3) and then fought through an even longer tie-breaker in the second set 7-6 (13-11).
"I'm so incredibly proud of how this team battled today, especially after having such a late-night marathon against West Virginia last night," head coach
Tracy Mauntler said. "This has been such a tough stretch of opponents and it's clear that this team keeps getting better and learning from the tough ones."
After losing the doubles point, seniors
Cassie Alcala (No. 1) and
Sloane Teske (No. 4) won their courts to tie the match at 2-2. William & Mary took the point on the No. 3 court, putting the Rockets in a 3-2 hole. But senior
Shalini Tallamraju won on the No. 5 court to set up the dramatic finish for Moutama.
"Cassie and Shalini were rock stars all weekend for us, and Sloane used 100% heart to pull her match out in the third set," Mauntler added. "Audrey took the opportunity and stepped up to clinch for the team."
Alcala's victory at the top court was her 88
th singles win and 155
th combined win to take over the program record. She passed Martina Wodzinski (2007-10) who previously held the record at 154 combined singles and doubles victories.
Toledo (4-3) will play its final non-conference home matches next week vs. Duquesne and Youngstown State before heading to South Carolina to close out its non-conference schedule.
Toledo 4, William & Mary 3
Singles
1.
Cassie Alcala (TOL) def. Yu Chen (W&M) 6-3, 6-1
2. Hedda Gurholt (W&M) def.
Gaby Rondon (TOL) 6-3, 6-4
3. Mila Mejic (W&M) def.
Sanjana Tallamraju (TOL) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3
4.
Sloane Teske (TOL) def. Ine Stange (W&M) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3
5.
Shalini Tallamraju (TOL) def. Emma Fernald (W&M) 6-3, 6-0
6.
Audrey Moutama (TOL) def. Francesca Davis (W&M) 7-6(3), 7-6 (11)
Doubles
1. Yu Chen / Emma Fernald (W&M) def.
Julia Kuszynski/ Sanjanan Tallamraju (TOL) 7-1
2. Ine Stange / Hedda Gurholt (W&M) def.
Cassie Alcala/
Gaby Rondon (TOL) 7-6(6)
3.
Audrey Moutama/
Sloane Teske (TOL) def. Francesca Davis / Yaelle Vaissaud (W&M) 6-3
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